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In this document, I will be critically analysing how Casino Royale (2006, Martin Campbell) reinvented the Bond series and how it took its alternate approach to the conventions of Bond while still reliving the original traditions as seen in the previous Bonds. In 2002, Pierce Brosnan’s final Bond film “Die Another Day” (Lee Tamohori) came out. Leaving speculation of who was next in line to play the role of James Bond and what it would look like. Then 4 years later Casino Royale was released starring Daniel Craig as the new James Bond.

The film starts off in black and white with a slow conversation with Bonds next target in order to claim his licence to kill. I think the choice of black and white colouring is the perfect way to introduce the new Bond as it almost pays homage to previous bonds and how slow they can seem in comparison to some of the set pieces seen in this film. While paying homage to the older Bond films it also shows a flashback to James Bond killing his first target in a ruthless brawl with the man in the bathroom showing them breaking through cubicles and smashing against glass and ending with him trying to drown him alive. Unfortunately, the guy gets back up but ends with the new Bond once again paying homage to the older bonds with the classic turn and shoot pose. This scene is a great way to introduce the new James Bond as it shows his brutality, his intelligence and his style but most importantly gives way to the next set piece in the film which does all of these things but on a much larger scale which leaves James Bond fans in shock at how explosive it is.

The next set piece takes place in Madagascar and has Bond chase down a bomb maker through a construction site and then an embassy. Once again showing Bonds Intellect, he recognises that the man he is chasing is much faster and much more agile so he uses his intelligence to keep up with him. This includes using machinery and other methods of action to catch him like climbing up cranes to reach new heights instead of having to climb up walls. This scene also shows his incredible hand-to-hand combat while fighting the terrorist on top of a crane. Compared to some of the set pieces depicted in earlier Bond films, Casino Royale brings a whole new spectrum of action to the series in this scene with parts like Bond jumping from one crane to another and my personal favourite showing the terrorist jump through a tiny gap to get through a wall but Bond just runs through the wall once again showing his strength. The shot composition for this set piece is done very well making sure you can see every single iconic detail like a very long shot for when Bond and the terrorist jump long distances. Another thing I picked up on is the fact that they reuse shots for both characters but for this type of introduction it works very well. Take the part where Bond runs through the wall as an example, agreed they do reuse the shot but it once again shows the new style that Daniel Craig has claimed as the new Bond and shows his intellect in comparison to the man he is chasing down all at the same time. One other key thing I picked up on is after finally catching the terrorist at the embassy, during the standoff with all the troops he remains very calm and chilled even after having a dozen guns pointed at him.

Next, we’ll talk about the villain and how he is introduced. He is first introduced in Africa in a business deal with some freedom fighters. From this scene, you can tell that he’s quite legit with the fancy clothes and after detailing the amount of money he has provided for others. In the next scene, he’s in, he is playing poker with a few guests on a yacht. This scene also shows the weeping blood with his eye and states that it just comes from a derangement of tear duct and its “Nothing Sinister”. This scene also details his talent for poker as he goes all in and explicitly details how low his guest’s chances are of winning while looking him dead in the eye. After analysing Casino Royale though I like to think that Le Chiffre isn’t a very villainous character. Obviously, he executes villainous tasks like poisoning James Bond and the obvious exception of his activities with money and such but other than that I wouldn’t necessarily say that Le Chiffre is evil. However, the idea of the crying blood out of his eye paints the picture of Le Chiffre is always hurting due to the business he is involved in. For example, the scene where the freedom fighters turn up at his hotel room shows the fact that he is just a man who doesn’t have a licence to kill or great combat experience but is just a regular guy that’s good at poker and with money. This helps back up my idea that he isn’t necessarily evil.

Possibly the biggest way that Casino Royale reinvents the James Bond films is with its new depiction of the Bond character. Daniel Craig does an incredible job of playing the spy with a licence to kill. He brings more terror to the character in a sense that his version of James Bond feels more dangerous and thrilling as seen in some of the action pieces. However, at the same time he does feel more fragile and easier to hurt. For example, he very easily gets poisoned and while he does have great skill in combat, he does seem to have too many close calls during fights. There’s also the fact at how hard he tries to save Vesper from drowning, almost resulting in him drowning as well. For a character like James Bond though, I think it works well as it shows that he’s not the perfect man whose good at everything. Instead, he’s rational, emotional and whose actions have consequences.

One of the other larger set pieces in Casino Royale is the gun fight in Venice with the collapsing building. At this point during the film, we discover that Vesper, the woman that James Bond has fallen for has betrayed Bond and has taken the money. After following her through Venice and catching her in the act. He then chases her into a building under construction. Soon after, the building starts to collapse into water and leaves Vesper trapped in the lift and drowning. Not only is this yet another huge set piece and once again showing the extent of high octane action that the Bond films could reach. I believe that the crashing building could represent Bond’s and Vesper’s crumbling relationship after the discovery of the betrayal.

I believe that one of the ways that Casino Royale reinvents the bond series is through the themes and the style that it uses. For example, as previously mentioned, one thing that Casino Royale that no other bond film has is its brutal action scenes. However, one of the major themes that Casino Royale also discusses is trust and how in James Bond’s line of work you can’t trust anyone as more than one character turns out to betray Bond including his love interest Vesper. This works well for this film though as he only just earns his licence to kill at the start of the film so it seems quite early in his career. This film is also quite dark compared to the others. As mentioned, one of the major themes seems to be betrayal but there is also an underlying theme of loss and loneliness with the death of Vesper and how Bond tries to keep a brave face after trying to save her.

For my critical analysis, I have chosen to carry out an in-depth textual analysis into Edgar Wright’s most recent film “Baby Driver” (2017). Starring Ansel Elgort as the lead role “Baby” an experienced but young driver (hence the title) for gangsters performing robbery’s. I have chosen this film because there is many hidden messages and themes behind the scenes that we will be looking at. Throughout this document, I will also be using media material such as images and videos to help back up

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my interpretations of the films intentions. For this in-depth textual analysis, I have selected certain scenes that convey mise en scene, narrative and style that Edgar Wright seamlessly implanted into one of his best films yet. In this film, there is many scenes that use extraordinary editing that positions aspects like camera cuts, character movement and diegetic sounds in time with the very selective soundtrack. This technique is called cutting to the beat. It’s rarely seen in movies and more common in music videos considering they’re clips are entirely around one piece of music. However, it’s very common in Baby Driver and is used for nearly every scene. I believe this technique is used to immerse you into the shoes of the main character Baby who is constantly listening to music and who may believe that his entire life is one big music video. This could also have been used to create something very original by presenting this action romp as somewhat of a musical except with guns, cars and action. So, to summarise this technique may well appear a lot throughout this textual analysis.

The first scene that I have chosen to analyse is the intro to the film that starts with the car full of gangsters pulling up to a bank. As previously mentioned, cutting to the beat is used in nearly every scene, including this one. Straight from the get-go, once the car pulls up you see Baby playing a song on an iPod which is edited to change shot to a close-up of all the characters sitting in the car in time with the strum of the guitar from the very same song. This is where the diegetic sounds come into play as certain sounds like car doors opening, the trunk of the car and natural sounds like beeping cars are used in time with the song. As said before, I interpret this to mean that Baby sees his life as some kind of music video as at one point later in the film, during another heist, he even stops other characters from leaving the car and starts his song from the beginning to play in time with the heist. Anyway, back to the intro, as the three gangsters leave the car you notice that they are all wearing black. However, Baby is wearing a black and white jacket. To me, this symbolises his shaky ideology on existing in the crime world. But we’ll address this later. Then from here you see a variation of different shots of Baby singing along to the song while interacting with his car like with the windscreen wipers and tapping against the side of the car in time with the song. This section of the intro also pays

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homage to the music video that Edgar Wright directed in 2003 for Mint Royale’s “Blue Song”. Both these pieces of work that Edgar Wright has done are almost identical in both narrative and editing following the same techniques as well. You even see a quick glimpse of this music video later in the film on the TV until Baby quickly changes the channel (EdgarWrightHere, 2009. Blue Song ~ Mint Royale – dir. Edgar Wright (2003) [video, online]. YouTube. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHbndkcLM6A [Accessed 15 January 2018]). Now back to Baby Driver, once they’re in the getaway, there is even more cutting to the beat that’s almost hard to keep track of. The list of diegetic sounds used are endless with sirens, cars beeping and even the sound of tires screeching. It’s simply unbelievable.

As previously mentioned with Baby’s clothing and his grasp on the criminal world. Although Baby drives these criminals away from the crime scene and the authorities, he doesn’t see himself as one of them who is willing to kill to succeed, this is witnessed a lot throughout the film as a personal moral of his until the end.

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There are also a few nods to this theory by other characters talking about how he’s doomed for belonging in that world. For example, after the very first heist we see “Griff” (Jon Bernthal) trying to find out what his deal is and says “You can’t just be in crime, right? Not without being a little criminal.” He also says “One of these days, Baby, you’re gonna get blood on your hands, and you’re gonna find out that that shit don’t wash off in the fucking sink.” As well as this, later in the film “Bats” (Jamie Foxx) also says “In this business, the moment you catch feelings… Is the moment you catch a bullet.” All of this leads to how it’s only a matter of time till he commits a crime other than being their driver. The operative one being taking a life or his life being taken instead for someone he loves.

The next scene that I’ll be analysing is another scene early in the film and is directly after the scene previously analysed. Much like the first scene, this one is introduced through another track that Baby is listening to. This is by far the most artistic scene throughout the film. It starts off with a shot of a building and a title. Nothing special here except in the building behind the title is two yellow lines representing the lines in the middle of a road. Earlier on in this essay, I discussed the idea that Baby Driver has the potential to be a musical due to its constant theatrical play with music and action. I also believe that this scene proves this as the main focus is Baby listening to a song and dancing around the scenes environment much like the classic musical/comedy “Singing In The Rain” (Gene Kelly, 1952). What’s artistic and special about this scene is it uses its natural surroundings to emphasise the song and how Baby sees the world. For example, on

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multiple occasions the lyrics to the song that Baby is listening to will be in shot, graffitied on lampposts and walls as Baby is walking past them. It also uses diegetic sounds to do the same with beeps of cars and even the sound of an ATM is in time with the song. I would detail all the visual and sound cues but due to the fascinating amount that there is, I’ll briefly describe the better ones. From these examples alone, you can tell that Edgar Wright will use any possible sound that may appear in an ordinary day in New York. At one point, they even use the bell that’s attached to the door of a coffee shop to enhance the song. But it doesn’t stop there, as Baby even performs some of the actions sang in the lyrics as well. For instance, once the trumpet of the song is introduced, Baby is pretending to play the same instrument but in front of a musical instrument store. He is also in sync to song by sliding past civilians and cars when the lyrics read “slide” (Byrd, B, Nelson, B. 1963. Harlem Shuffle. Marc Records. Available from: https://genius.com/Bob-and-earl-harlem-shuffle-lyrics. [Accessed 16th January 2018]) Which brings me to the camera movement. For a scene that looks so simple yet complex underneath, the shot composition in fantastic. The range of shots in this scene are very varied. You’ve got it all from close-ups to over the shoulder but what mesmerises me is that this entire scene is filmed in one shot. As well as the multiple different types of shot used, it’s breathtaking to see that such a complex scene is filmed in one entire shot with absolutely no cuts. I also believe that the desire to film it all in one go must have caused a lot of strain due to the flawless timing of surroundings and Ansel Elgort’s positioning. My interpretation of this scene is it enforces the idea that Baby is so connected to his songs that he sees them as part of his reality with what’s happening around him. This point can even be argued with the fact that later in the film you discover he records conversations and turns them into songs in his apartment. Also with a scene like this, I believe that Edgar Wright’s true intentions with this scene is for us to live Baby’s story with him and to see the world for how he sees it.

With all the consistent editing in this film, I believe that the sole intention for it is to immerse you into the main character’s story. This is done incredibly well with the use of this editing technique that keeps popping up in both scenes that I have analysed and many more in the rest of the film. It creates a sense of engagement with the audience that allows us as watchers to experience the same events as Baby by simply aligning what’s happening within the film with what Baby is listening to on his iPod. It also helps to relate to him on a simpler level as throughout the film he is only seen as just a guy even to the multiple criminals that he drives around. A strong example of this would be the ringing in Baby’s ears. One of the biggest concepts in the film is that Baby is suffering from Tinnitus from a childhood accident. This means that he has a constant ringing in his ears which is why he listens to music all the time so that he can drown it out. So, to immerse the audience even more, in certain scenes when Baby doesn’t have any ear phones in his ears there is a faint ringing in the background of the scene to represent what Baby is hearing and experiencing. For example, after Bats knocks out Baby and is woken up to the gangsters finding his tapes that have been created from recordings of meetings, there is a constant ringing because Baby isn’t wearing any ear phones. However, once they ask him to play one of the tapes, the ringing disappears. This enforces the idea of the audience hearing what Baby is hearing. This obviously works both ways as when Baby is listening to music it’s always playing in the background for him and for us as the audience. I believe Edgar Wright chose to do this to build a strong connection between Baby and the audience to make Baby’s story more impactful and relatable.

The last and final scene that we’ll be analysing is the ending. Now earlier on in the film once Baby meets the love interest “Deborah” (Lily James) they mention a few times that all they want to do is to get in a car they can’t afford, hit the road and listen to music and never turn back. Then later in the film, Baby has a dream sequence depicting Deborah standing in front of a car in black and white. It makes sense for Baby to dream about this as he would have the three things he loves most in life: Deborah, music and a car. Then

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at the end, once Baby has been sentenced to prison you see this exact same dream of Deborah in front of the car and Baby. However, this time you see Baby leave the prison with a shot of him in front of the prison gates. Continuity-wise, the same camera shots are used in both the dream sequence and the end. The same black and white colouring is still present but it slowly fades into normal colouring giving the impression that it’s coming to life. The costume is almost alike to the dream in Deborah’s case although for Baby he was wearing a darker shirt in the dream but just a plain white top at the end. This could symbolise his purity. After paying the punishment for his crimes and repenting for those he has done wrong. One of the biggest debates about this is whether it is real or just another dream and Baby is actually still in prison. When I first saw the film, I believed that it was real due to it starting off just like the dream with the black and white but then giving the impression of it coming to life with the colouring changing back to normal. However, after looking at this scene carefully I noticed a rainbow in the background which got me thinking. Earlier on in the film, Baby goes to inspect a post office and talks with one of the clerks. She starts talking about Dolly Parton and reads one of her quotes: “Everybody wants happiness, everybody wants pain. But you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain”. Edgar Wright excellently foreshadows the ending here by presenting the message of you can’t have a happy ending without a downfall or without going to prison in this case. This still could mean that the end is not a dream but I believe it is due to the fact that there is not one drop of rain to be seen at the end. Not on the floor or not in the sky. To me, it’s merely just Baby dreaming of this happy ending while still being in prison and receiving post cards from Deborah. Unfortunately I couldn’t find an image online to show said rainbow to back up my argument but I will include a hyperlink to a YouTube video of the ending.

Baby Driver is one of the most artistic, stylish and genius films of 2017 and even in the world. Edgar Wright delivers an incredible, action filled romp of a film that caters to all types of audiences whether it be to hard-core music experts, filmmakers or action heads. It’s certainly a film with the whole package.